By Kamya Pandey
Enterprises can set up their own captive private 4G/5G networks either by using spectrum allocated to telecom companies or by directly obtaining spectrum, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) says in its recently released guidelines. Called Captive Non-Public Networks (CNPN), enterprises can establish these networks for secure connectivity within a specific geographical location. The government says these networks will ensure that enterprises have 鈥渟ecure, high reliability, and low latency connectivity鈥 tailored to their specific operational requirements.
These guidelines come after, in February this year, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) recommended that the government introduce a CNPN service provider authorisation under the Telecommunication Act, 2023. While the recent DoT guidelines do not introduce this CNPN service provider authorisation, they mention that the government is conducting a demand survey to assess the need for direct spectrum assignment for CNPN services.
Who is eligible to obtain spectrum for CNPN services?
The applicant must be an Indian company under the Companies Act, 2013.
They must occupy the geographical area/properties (either ownership or lease) on which they intend to establish the CNPN network.
To obtain direct spectrum for CNPN services, the company in question must have a net worth of not less than Rs 100 crores.
Fresh emphasis on CNPN services:
In its recommendations, TRAI mentioned that while the government had initially enabled these networks under its June 2022 guidelines for a CNPN license, the service did not take off significantly. It argued that if third-party entities had a specific license to establish, maintain, operate, and expand CNPN networks for enterprises, it could facilitate the growth of CNPN services in India.
Similarly, in its guidelines, the DoT mentions that while certain frequency bands had initially been proposed specifically for CNPN services, there was a lack of devices in those frequency bands. 鈥淒uring recent analysis, it was observed that the device ecosystem for CNPN services is mostly available in IMT [International Mobile Telecommunication] bands, and 5G technology has also considerably advanced with different use cases,鈥 the guidelines state. They add that system integrators are keenly interested in establishing CNPN networks.
System integrators are companies that build computing systems for their clients by combining hardware, software, networking, and storage products from other providers. Companies like Wipro and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) function as system integrators. TCS has, in fact, publicly expressed its desire to run its own CNPN networks back in 2022, which faced opposition from telecom companies.
Conflicting thoughts about enterprise CNPN connections:
Telecom industry body Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) had published a statement at the time saying that telecom companies are fully capable of providing enterprises with customised solutions to meet their connectivity needs.
It argued that telecom companies would depend on the enterprise segment to generate revenue from their 5G service offerings, given that in countries where telcos had rolled out 5G services as of 2022, there was hardly any rise in revenue from the retail segment. Sure enough, in 2023, Airtel鈥檚 Managing Director, Gopal Vittal, also mentioned that private 5G networks and some B2B (business-to-business) use cases are the only ones that have yielded modest revenue streams on the 5G front so far.